Sisterly Love

Is sisterly even a word? I don't know, but Natalee & Haylee sure do love each other.

You'd think they hadn't seen each other in a week. It had been less than 24 hours.

Haylee says she loves her little sister because she can walk, talk and play with her now.

Man I love these beautiful girls. I am so thankful for them!

Heaven

I heard a song this weekend by Justin Moore and I absolutely love it!

Chorus:

If heaven wasn't so far away
I'd pack up the kids and go for the day
Introduce them to their grandpa.....

Then tell him we'd be back in a couple of days
In the rear view mirror we'd all watch 'em wave
Yeah, and losing them wouldn't be so hard to take
If heaven wasn't so far away.

I just can't stop thinking about how awesome that would be if I could go visit my Dad and introduce the girls to their Grandpa! Obviously Heaven would have more visitors than Disneyland but I could handle the crowds.

Maybe someday....

My Weekly Deal 6/20-6/26

Is it sad that I get so excited about Keebler Cookies being .18 a package and Keebler Crackers being .49 a box? Ok, don't answer that. I think it was the highlight of my weekend! This was my Sunday Fry's trip-

This is what I bought and how much I paid for each item after coupon(s).

1 Eggo .99
4 Keebler Crackers .49 ea.
2 Bagels $1.50 ea.
2 Minute Maid Frozen Lemonade Free
4 Pepperidge Farms Goldfish .50 ea.
4 Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Grahams Free
2 Dole Salad .88
1 Annie's Chocolate Chip Cookies .50
5 Keebler Cookies .18 ea.
6 Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Free after Catalina
1 Nesquik Powder .19
4 Santa Cruz Lemonade .25 ea.
2 Cantaloupe .88 ea.
1 Kroger Sour Cream $1
4 3 Muskateers Free
3 Tic Tacs Free


Total OOP $15.00
Savings of $81.98
Earned $3 in Catalinas for Ben & Jerry's

Fry's has had some awesome deals this week when combining competitor coupons and manufacturer coupons!

I also went to Target this week. They have KC BBQ sauce for .99 so FREE after coupon.  And I stacked a Target coupon with a manufacturer coupon to get Ritz Crackerfulls for .40 a box. I've been wanting to try those!

I went to Albie's for the .49 Old Orchard Cranberry juice, but only because I was right next to one when running other errands. Otherwise, I wouldn't have wasted the gas for 2 items.

Lastly, I went to Kohl's Saturday. Sadly, the medicine I'm on and the extreme heat made me feel very yucky. I thought I was gonna pass out to I grabbed a few things quick and headed to the register. I used a $10/$20, my $10 Kohl's Cash and my 30% off coupon to get me 2 shirts, Haylee a dress and Natalee a cute halter top. I paid $1.50!!!

So that was my exciting week of shopping. I am praying for some super awesome 4th of July sales this week! In the mean time, I have a lot of Keebler cookies to eat! :)

You can check the matchups on Sheryl's site to see where I found the coupons to score these great deals. I advise you to visit her site once a day so you don't miss out on awesome deals!

Friday Ramblings

This has been a rough week. My dear husband has been getting home between 6-7pm every night resulting in 13-14 hour work days. I feel for him, and I feel for me. I have tried so hard to have patience but Natalee has been so cranky and Haylee (has actually gotten better) starts her attitude when Daddy gets home. I need a vacation!


I was so excited that I scored 5 packages of Keebler Cookies, 3 Tic Tacs and 3 Graham Cracker Goldfish for .90 on my ireallyneedabreakandi'mleavingforabit shopping trip last night! Time to stockpile cookies!


I know I talk a lot about deals but I have had a shopping addiction for years now and I now have a "see how much I can save" addiction. I like this new addiction a lot more. Anyways, the stars are all aligned AGAIN and I have a 30% off, a couple $10/$20 and $10 in Kohl's cash so I have to go back this weekend and get my freap on! I think Saturday is gonna be a shopping day. I definitely deserve it after this week.


Did I mention Old Navy has $2 tank tops today and tomorrow? Geez, so many deals so little time!


I had my first House Party this week. I was chosen to host a Velveeta Cheesy Skillets House Party. Total flop. I can't blame everyone for not coming to my cheesy party (lol sorry I had to) I mean, who goes to a Velveeta party? Well if you're familiar with House Party you know you'll get coupons and other FREE stuff at these parties so everyone who didn't come really missed out :)


I'm still sun burned, but it's fading and now I'm peeling. I hate that I can't reach the middle of my upper back where I need to apply aloe every day. Haylee is doing a pretty good job though, I taught her well!


Haylee has been pretty good this week. She is playing so nice with Natalee and I love it. The best sound is the sound of laughter. I love when Haylee is chasing Natalee and Natalee dives onto the couch pillows and the both start belly laughing. It makes me smile everytime.


When Natalee isn't diving onto pillows laughing, she's walking around fussing. I'm not sure if her teeth are still bothering her or if she's not feeling well but she is one cranky baby. She use to be so happy all the time. She still is sometimes, but not often enough. Good thing she is so stinkin' cute!

That's about all for now. My Mom has Haylee girl today so I think I'll go run some errands with little N. I think we both need to get out of the house!

Fun OUT of the sun!

Because it is now 120 degrees outside I try to stay home as much as possible. Getting both girls in and out of the car is too exhausting in this heat. So far, we have found plenty of things to keep busy around here.

Haylee is quite the couponer. She loves to cut coupons and actually does a great job. I might have her take over for me. She told me the other day that I need to check for a Rapunzel slip and slide at Fry's because "they have it there and it's totally on sale!"

Both girls love to read. I have a couple of shelves in the office with their books and they'll sit at their picnic table and look at the pictures and Haylee sometimes "reads" to Natalee. Cutest thing ever.

Haylee got a Tangled paint-with-water book for her birthday that she loves! Too bad those things never come with enough paint. Haylee would sit and paint all day if I let her, and if there was more paint!

Staycation in Scottsdale

We did our first staycation this past weekend and I loved it! I loved how we got there and back and our tank was still on full!

We drove up over Friday night and got there around 9pm (that was thanks to Josh's work for scheduling a meeting that lasted till 5pm on the other side of the world). We took the girls in the kiddie pool for a little bit then went to sleep. Sleeping in a queen size bed + a snoring husband + a fish-out-of-water child = no sleep for Shelley.

Saturday we were at the pool all day long. My family came over and swam with us and then we had a BBQ. Nothing like ice cold fruits and veggies when it's 105 degrees out. The water was actually cold in the big pool so we spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool which is only 1 1/2 ft deep.

I had decided I wanted to get a little tan so I held off on putting sunscreen on right away. Well...obviously I held off a little too long so now I'm a lobster with funny "burn" marks on my body!

Natalee loved swimming! She floated around in her tube.

Haylee girl has always loved the water. She liked the kiddie pool the best. She practiced holding her nose and putting her face in the water.

Everyone else just enjoyed some fun in the sun and a good time was had by all.

Later in the evening we piled into our studio room and played games till we called it a night. Well let's just say we didn't get much sleep that night either. Haylee was obviously having some wacky dreams and kept talking in her sleep and thrashing around. Aside from the lack of sleep, we all had a fun weekend and we're looking forward to our next staycation!

My Weekly Deals 6/12-6/19

Even though I've been slacking typing up my favorite deals, I have not been slacking taking advantage of the deals! And let me just say that the best part of our staycation in Scottsdale this past weekend was me finding a "secret" Fry's that obviously no couponers shop at. I got all the FREE Huggies wipes I needed and I also got my FREE John Freida, both things that are no where to be found around here. I was behind this lady who's total was $238 + and the cashier asked if she had a Fry's card. She said no and so the cashier asked if she wanted one. The lady again replied no. Well being the nice smart person that I am, I handed over my Fry's VIP card because not only did it save her almost $30 (which I'm sure she could careless about) but I got 200 points towards my gas fill ups!!! Smart move.

Ok, back to my weekly deals.

Not this past weekend, but the weekend before (the 12th) I rocked Kohl's and I'm so happy with what I got! I had Kohl's Cash, a 30% off coupon, $10/$20 coupons and gift cards. I bought myself a dress, 3 shirts and a pair of capris. I also bought Haylee a dress and Josh 2 shirts. I spent $31.25 OOP, received $10 back in Kohl's Cash and saved a total of $204.17. That is why I shop at Kohl's...besides the fact they have cute clothes!

Fry's has been rather slow but there were unadvertised deals to be had. Oh, and rain checks to fulfill! I finally got my FREE Nivea lotions! I also picked up .19 Nesquik powder, FREE Nutterbutters, FREE Sun Chips, 4 pk of Nestle Drumsticks for .34, FREE Seattle's Best coffee drinks, .25 Santa Cruz Lemonade, .29 for Ben & Jerry's pints, FREE Tic Tacs, FREE Tombstone pizzas, .50 watermelons, .88 strawberries, .34 pineapples and .99 Juicy Juice.

Albertson's had a pretty awesome deal this week too. I spent $4 OOP for 4-6pks of Danonino yogurts for baby N and then I received a FREE gallon of milk and a coupon for B1G1 Free admission to Sea Life aquarium. We haven't been to the one here so I might take Haylee girl.

I also went to Walmart this past week. I price matched the 3 pk Magnum bars and got those for .99 after coupon. Yummy! I also got my brother some cat food for .57 a box and the applesauce on-the-go I buy Natalee was on rollback for $1! I was so happy about that. It's usually $2.34 for a 4 pk.

You can check the matchups on Sheryl's site to see where I found the coupons to score these great deals. I advise you to visit her site once a day so you don't miss out on awesome deals!

Happy Father's Day

Thanks to my dear friend in Iowa, my Dad had beautiful flowers at his grave for Father's Day. I am so thankful for Lance and for everything he does for me. If my Dad was placed here it would be so much easier.

Me, Dustin and the girls released balloons for Dad last night.

We got him 3 balloons and we watched them until we couldn't see them anymore. I'm sure my Dad grabbed them :)

Josh had a relaxing Father's Day with his little girls.

We got home from our staycation and we all layed down for a 3 hour nap! The girls gave Josh a collage picture and a card and then Haylee picked him out some balloons and flowers (because Daddy loves flowers she says).

That evening we took Josh and Dustin to Outback for Father's Day.

Josh and his mini me!

What better way to celebrate Father's Day than with a terriyaki steak and a wallaby darned!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE 2 MOST WONDERFUL DAD'S I KNOW!

Friday Ramblings

Holy busy week! Looks like I only blogged twice this week, forgot my weekly deals, and now I only have 10 minutes to ramble today.

We started the week off by celebrating Haylee's 4th birthday. If Monday-Wednesday are any indication on how the age 4 is gonna be, I'm packing my bags. Haylee was HORRIBLE! Total attitude, talking back, being mean to her sister.....I don't know how we survived. Thankfully, yesterday she was great and so far today she has been good too.

I decided to book a last minute staycation for this weekend so we could swim all day and BBQ. We booked one of our resorts in Scottsdale and my family is gonna join us for the day tomorrow. I'm very excited to swim for the first time this year and I'm excited for our first staycation. Not that a staycation means I don't have to pack as much, ha! I waited till today to start gathering things and I'm like "we're only going an hour away and we still need all this crap?" Oh, and I'm so glad Josh's work felt the need to schedule a meeting for 3pm today. Looks like we'll arrive at our resort just in time to go to bed.

Haylee and I went to see Seussical at Broadway Palm last night and we loved it! It was such a fun, upbeat, energetic show. It's ends Saturday so buy tickets right away if you wanna see it. I also got us tickets for Cinderella, The Nutcracker and Pinkalicious so we're set for awhile. I'm so happy Haylee loves theatre!

I can't think of anything else to add right now. I have to finish getting things together and deal with cranky Miss Natalee. I'm not sure where my happy baby went but if you see her tell her we want her back. She's been missing for quite awhile.

Tangled Party

Haylee had a "Tangled" party on Saturday. If you haven't seen the movie, you need too. I think Rapunzel is now my favorite "Princess". Let's start with the decorations. Josh and I spent most of the morning cutting super long pieces of yarn to create Rapunzel's hair and then we had it strung all over the house. It turned out so cute and Haylee loved it!

We also had Tangled balloons, a banner, table cloths, plates, napkins, and don't forget the giant cupcake! And that was just the decorations! I've never seen so much Tangled stuff in my life.

Last minute I decided to give Haylee a Rapunzel look and I tied the extra yarn onto a head band and she wore it throughout her party. She loved having Rapunzel's long, magical hair!

For lunch we had chicken strips marinated in BBQ, Terriyaki and Sweet Buffalo sauces along with fruit, potato salad, chips and watermelon. My girls absolutely LOVE watermelon!

(This was before the party started. She did eat more than just chips)

After lunch was present time and Haylee had everyone cracking up. She has so much personality and every time she opened a present she got so excited and shouted "oh my gosh!"

Of course we heard the "thank you soooo much" and the "I've wanted this my entire life" but we all laughed every time she'd shout "Ohhhh myyyyy goshhhh!". She is a nut.

Haylee got so much cute stuff. A lot of Tangled stuff (of course) but other things that weren't Tangled that she loved as well. She got clothes, a baby dolphin pillow pet, Ariel bracelet, Ariel slip and slide, Minnie Mouse night gown, Jasmine night gown, hair stuff, Princess bath toy and a Princess cd player.

As far as Tangled stuff, she got a sticker book, long sleeve pj's, book w/ cd, plate, bowl, placemat, silverware, Rapunzel plush doll, Look and Find book, Color Wonder, magnetic drawing pad with book, paperback book, 4 set board books, photo album, paint with water book, beach towel, sunglasses, swim suit, cover up, cup, short sleeve pj's, 2 shirts and figurines! Oh, and I can't forget about the Tangled Wii game too! As I said, I've never seen so much Tangled/Rapunzel stuff in my life. Haylee is one spoiled little girl!

Lastly, we sang "Happy Birthday" and brought out the traditional giant cupcake. This year it was decorated with a number "4" and a Rapunzel figurine.

This is the first year Haylee wanted us to sing to her and she didn't cry. Wow and wow!!! I love the look on her face when she saw the cupcake!

Of course she didn't "dig in" like Natalee, she look a tiny lick here and a tiny lick there and then Natalee tried to show her how to do it.

Everyone enjoyed their cupcakes and as Haylee said, "it was the best birthday ever!"

On her actual birthday, Daddy brought her home 1 last surprise. Haylee loves flowers!

We had planned to take Haylee to Red Robin and then to Krispy Kreme but a certain attitude caused us to have a change in plans. We ended up at Serrano's and Haylee made sure she told the server that all she wanted was a cherry on top! She got her wish, and she was in heaven.

Me and Josh sang to her and she took it all in with a smile from ear to ear.

Happy 4th Birthday Haylee Girl!